Lewis takes lessons from start

Browns quarterback Thaddeus Lewis took plenty of lessons from his first NFL start last Sunday.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Thaddeus Lewis made his NFL debut against the league’s top-ranked defense in the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

Despite the 24-10 loss, Lewis said he felt good about the chance to compete with the best total defense and the top unit against the pass.

“It’s fun playing against the No.1 defense,” Lewis said. “You’d want to have it no other way. Just playing against a veteran group, the No. 1 defense in the league and being able to have the success that we did on offense, we were in the game the whole time. Playing against those guys and being able to do some of the good things we did on offense basically gives you confidence.

“Playing against the top-ranked defense, that’s just how much of a grind the game is going to be every Sunday, being able to manage the game and give yourself an opportunity to win in the fourth quarter. Without those turnovers, it would’ve been a different game. It’s just experience playing against the No. 1 defense, knowing that if I can play with them, I can play with anybody.”

Lewis completed 22 of 32 attempts for 204 yards and one touchdown with an interception. He finished the game with an 83.3 quarterback rating, despite being sacked three times for 14 lost yards.

“It’s very important that when you get your opportunity to take advantage of it,” Lewis said. “In this league, you never know how many opportunities you’re going to get, so that was very important for me to go out there and play well Sunday.

“You just think that, ‘Now is your time.’ You don’t have a chance to dwell that, ‘Last week, I was playing this.’ It’s what’s important now. What was important was being the starting quarterback, so I had to embrace that.”

Following the game, several veteran Browns players were complimentary of Lewis’ performance, something the young signal-caller appreciated.

“When a bunch of guys give you compliments on the things you’ve done, it just lets you know that your hard work is paying off,” Lewis said. “And (they saw) everything I’ve done to help the team out, and I obviously got the chance to help them on Sunday, I did my best and the guys commended me for that. That was good.”